Merseyside Police hold naming ceremony to commemorate the life of Dianne Oxberry

Tony Gleave

Merseyside Police Mounted Section is today (Friday 26 April) holding a naming ceremony to commemorate the life of Dianne Oxberry.

Dianne, a much loved BBC presenter for more than 20 years, sadly passed away in January as a result of ovarian cancer.

As one of her last pieces of work, she had visited the Mounted Section in November 2018, highlighting the great work of the department, the challenges faced and the Stand Tall charity, for an episode of BBC’s Inside Out.

Today, Chief Constable Andy Cooke and officers from the Mounted Section will be joined by Dianne’s family and close friends to pay tribute to her in a special way – by naming one of their horses in her memory.

Chief Constable Andy Cooke said: “Dianne was passionate about horses and left a lasting impression on the Mounted Section after her visit.

"Throughout her career as a presenter, she has helped shine light on a number of issues and we feel incredibly honoured that one of her last pieces of work helped to shine light on our horses.

“Following news of her death, we decided that naming one of her horses to commemorate her would be a fitting tribute. Today, joined by Dianne’s close friends and family, our horse ‘Daisy’ will be renamed ‘Oxberry’.”

“This is a great honour for the force and our way of saying thank you to Dianne and her family, for the fantastic woman, presenter and animal lover she was.”